


I’ll protect you

by SimplyEssa



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: ... - Freeform, 5 + 1, Gay Keith (Voltron), Hurt Keith (Voltron), Jealous Matt (Voltron), Keith (Voltron) Angst, Keith (Voltron) Whump, Keith (Voltron) is a Mess, Keith loves Hippos, Keith stays on the team, Kuron is Shiro and he knows he’s a clone, Lance (Voltron) Being a Little Shit, Lance is then ultimate wingman, Lance ships Katt, M/M, Matt stays on the ship, Mentions of past abuse, Mutual Pining, Over Protective Boyfriends, Past Matt Holt/Shiro, Pining Keith (Voltron), Pining Matt (Voltron), Protective Matt (Voltron), Vomiting, as do i, but katt is cute, im sorry, klance is still number one tho, s4 spoilers, shiro and keith are adoptive siblings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-22
Packaged: 2019-01-18 10:23:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12386247
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SimplyEssa/pseuds/SimplyEssa
Summary: Or, alternatively titled:Five Times Matt had Protective Thoughts Over Keith and One Time He Acted on ThemKeith never left for the blades and is pining low key, Matt is living on the Castle and is pining high key, Lance is a little shit.What else is new?





	I’ll protect you

**Author's Note:**

> ...  
>  i ship katt now?  
> klance is still number one; as in, i’d sell my soul and throw myself in front of train for it, but katt is still in the tops ten :)  
> ..  
> at some points in the story he may not seem protective but, trust me, he is  
> .  
> you’ll know when it switches from 1-2, etc  
> if not, it’ll be a horizontal line. if there are breaks in between one, it’ll be ‘~~’

Matt knows who Keith is.

He’d watched him at the Garrison, pining his head off, because, damn, that boy was hot. Matt knows he’s bisexual, which is a good thing, because he dated Shiro. When Shiro said he’d be meeting his little brother, he though this ‘Keith’ would be a six year old brat addicted to Paw Patrol.

Oh, how he was wrong.

They’d been playing a video game while they were waiting for Keith, which stroked Matt as odd. Wouldn’t Shiro have needed to drive him to their dorm?

”Shi-“ Just as he was about to ask how old Keith actually was, there was a knock at their door, and Shiro got up, a bright smile on his face. 

“Matt, this is Keith,” Shiro told him, opening the door. At the sight of the purple, red rimmed eyes, he knew he was going to break up with Shiro, mutual or not. “Keith, this is- Keith? What’s wrong?”

”I- I need to talk to you. Alone.”

Shiro came back from Starbucks twenty minutes later, explaining that Keith’s boyfriend, some asshat named Roto, the guy he'd been dating for four years, had just broken up with him, in a rather...  _violent_ way.

Matt felt an overwhelming urge to comfort the seventeen year old boy and beat the shit out of the twenty year old man who abused him.

He had a mutual break up with Shiro a year later.

* * *

Matt nearly had a heart attack when K- Pidge introduced him to the Paladins. He remembers Lance and Hunk from the Garrison, the loud, boisterous one and the quiet, kind one who were best friends. He doesn’t regret calling Allura beautiful-

Until he sees Keith’s face.

He’s glaring at the ground, arms crossed tightly over his Red armour, biting his lip hard enough for it to bleed. His face is turned away from Matt’s, eyes visibly wet- well, at least to Matt, they are. He’s seen Keith’s ‘I’m-about-to-cry-face’ before, and he hates it.

Pidge doesn’t seem to notice, instead making it very clear that they knew each other before, then winking at Matt, making him blush furiously.

Then he sees Lance go up to Keith and lead him away with an arm around his shoulders, a dirty look thrown at Matt.

He knows Lance wouldn’t hurt Keith in anyway, if the comforting arm around his shoulder has anything to say about it, but he can’t help but want to pull Keith into his arms, far, far away from his probable boyfriend. 

He’s not ashamed to admit he watches Keith’s ass as he leaves.

* * *

 When they’re in the Castle an hour later, Matt is exploring.

He stumbles across the observatory deck, where he can hear someone crying.

He pokes his head in, suppressed anger and jealousy burning through him when he see’s Keith and Lance hugging, Keith’s head buried in Lance’s shoulder. Lance’s trademark army jacket is wrapped around his shoulders, while his arms are going up and down Keith’s back. He’s whispering something to him, but Matt can’t hear it from here, nor can he read lips. 

He’s ashamed of the need to pull Keith away from Lance this time.

They're clearly meant for each other.

He leaves without a word, ignoring the way he can feel Lance watch him.

* * *

Lance’s eyes are burning holes into the back of his head and he knows it.

He chooses not to acknowledge it.

He’s been flirting with Allura during their free time, despite his tiny, _major_ , crush for Keith, sending terrible pickup line after terrible pickup line her way, for fun.

Allura laughs at all of them, because, unlike Lance, she knows he’s just doing this for fun.

They’re in the pool room, and even though it’s upside down, they’re able to get in it. Coran showed them how, and it’s very complicated. Matt can hardly remember how, even though he’s in it right now. The world has seemed to flip while they’re up here, and the gravity is perfectly fine. Allura is sitting on the deck-roof-thing beside him, feet kicking the water idly in front of her. She’s smiling softly, a warm twinkle in her eyes. His relationship with her is nothing but platonic, an older brother/sister type of thing. Besides, even if he’d wanted to date Allura, Shiro is his best friend, and he can’t miss the heart eyes they send eachother. He’d be blind if he did. 

He’s mid pick up line with Allura when he hears Keith screech.

He whips his head to around, feet braced on the wall of the pool, ready to push himself to Keith’s aid.

But there’s nothing wrong, nothing at all, except for the fact that Keith is in Lance’s arms, and not his.

Keith is laughing and screaming, cheeks a dusty pink, trying to kick away from Lance. Lance is grinning up to his ears, a mischievous glint to his eyes, his hands wrapped around Keith. His fingers are on Keith’s side and stomach, trailing them fast and lightly-

Oh.

They’re just playing. In a coupley way.

Matt’s heart throbs.

He turns back to Allura, no longer in the mood to flirt. He still smiles flirtatiously, but Allura must see through it. “What’s on your mind, Matthew?”

”Oh, uh,” Matt coughs, pulling himself up so he can sit beside Allura. “Nothing.”

Allura gives him an unimpressed look, hands clasped in her lap. “Matthew, I know someone who is in love with another when I see it. You are no exception. In fact, you are very obvious about it. You’re lucky he is so dense.”

Matt nods, cheeks burning. “Y-yeah, I guess.”

”Would you like some advice?”

Matt nods again.

"Swim to him," Allura smiles mischievously, pushing him into the water.

He surfaces, spluttering, while glaring at Allura. "What the fuck-"

She gestures to Keith with her hand, and with one last glare, Matt swims off.

A sting of jealousy rushes up when he notices Keith on Shiro's shoulders, perfect, hairless, legs crossed at the ankle, hands locked with Lance, who's on Hunk. He manages to unbalance Lance, making Hunk stumble backwards. Matt floats in the water, perfectly content with watching Keith kick Lance's ass. But then- then Lance played it dirty. He smirked, grabbed Keith's outstretched arm, and held it high above his head. Keith's eyes widened in recognition too late, just as his hand came up too late. Lance traced over Keith's armpit, causing Keith to scream, and jerk in Shiro's grasp. Shiro stumbled, slipping on the pool floor, and lost hold of Keith. Keith fell into the water behind Shiro, a giggling mess-

_Did- did he get air? Was he laughing too much?_

The sudden thought hit him like a freight train, sending him to their side of the pool in a burst of speed he didn't know he had.

He's underwater and at Keith's side in an instant, surprised to find him still laughing, even if he's inhaling water, while screaming at Lance in incoherent words Lance probably can't hear.

Matt stops swimming, but keeps himself underwater, entranced by the muscular torso that Keith definitely did not have back at the Garrison.

The ship lurches suddenly, sending Keith and Matt to the wall of the pool. Keith's head hits the wall with a muffled, quiet groan, and Matt is swimming again-

Gravity disappears, and all at once, everything turns to chaos. The water falls out of the pool, sending them all to the ground, while Keith clutches his head with his eyes squeezed tight, Allura grabs hold of Pidge and the pool's edge so they don't fall, and Matt- Matt is pushing himself underneath Keith, wrapping his arms around his lower back and waist, and bracing himself for the impact, because no way in  _hell_ is he letting Keith get hurt even more-

The ground reaches them all too suddenly, his back making a wet slap on the ground as it connects. Keith is still on him, breathing hard and his hand beside Matt's head, while the other is on his chest. His eyes are wide with shock as he stares into Matt's, a faint blush appearing on his cheeks.

Keith scrambles off of him, hand on the back of his head, cheeks burning.

They don't say anything.

Matt feels another sting of jealousy when he notices Keith helping Lance up.

* * *

Matt wakes up to a knock on his door.

He falls off of the bed in a haste to grab a shirt, because he sleeps without a shirt on, thank you very much. He's got a pair of black sweat pants on, going down to his ankles, his hair is a mess, and to top it all off, his shirt, the first one he found, was purple, skin tight, and long sleeved.

There's another knock, and deciding it's fine, he places his palm on the door, expecting Pidge, but not Keith, standing in his doorway, arms crossed tightly against his chest, something blue and plasticy in his hands, in a blue t-shirt and red pair of pyjama pants. He ignored the flush of jealousy that took over his chest, seeing as the shirt was  _clearly_  Lance's. "Hey," he said quietly, careful not to wake anyone else up.

"H-hi," Keith said awkwardly, arms loosening a little bit. Matt eyed him from inside his room, then steps aside, a silent offer for him to come in. The boy has clearly gotten zero to little sleep, if the bags under his eyes have anything to say about it. Keith stands there, cheeks flushed and hair mussed. He's so cute, it's hard for Matt not to stare. Keith gets the hint, eventually, and with a silent thanks, he walks into the room, letting the door slide shut behind him. There aren't any lights on, but Matt can see clearly enough- like the ice pack he's holding to the back of his head.

"You good?" Matt asks, approaching the bed. He leans against the bed frame, legs too restless to be in one position. He crosses his arms, mimicking Keith's earlier position.

"What?" Keith raises a curious eyebrow, seemingly forgetting about the ice pack. 

"You're holding ice to your head," Matt smiles, a tease to his voice. "Did you forget?"

"Oh," Keith brings his hand down, staring at the pack for a solid minute before bringing it back up with a wince. "Yeah. Coran told me to sleep on it so it wouldn't get worse."

"What happened to your head?" Matt inquires, changing his feet position.

"Minor concussion," Keith explains, leaning on the wall. He slides down it, legs wobbling slightly. "It got slammed pretty good in the pool."

"Ouch," Matt winces in sympathy, crossing the short distance to sit beside Keith. Keith looks at him, confused, but slumps a little onto Matt's side. Matt blushes, deciding on whether or not it would be appropriate to wrap an arm around those slim, muscular shoulders-

Keith clears his throat, startling Matt out of his thoughts. "So, um, I wanted to say," Keith fiddles with the hem of his shirt, pulling his knees to his chest. "Thank you. For earlier."

"Oh," Matt will admit, he is a little disappointed. He thought Keith had trusted him enough to come to him after a... traumatizing nightmare. "No problem, I guess. I mean, it was that or let you get hurt even more-"

He's cut off by a pair of lips on his.

Matt's eyes widen, thoughts running a mile a minute, because Keith Kogane, the adoptive brother of his best friend, who he'd been crushing on for  _two years,_ was kissing him.  _Him_.

It's gone as soon as it came, and Keith is leaning back, pulling his mouth away with dilated pupils and flushed cheeks. Matt, the idiot he is, is still staring, a tingling sensation on his lips.

"I-, um, s-sorry," Keith stutters, stumbling to his feet. Matt, still fucking shocked, stares up at him, a faint smile grazing his face. "That... that was uncalled f-for. I'll go. I'm gonna go."

Finally recovering from his stupid shock, Matt gets to his feet and runs out of the shut door.

"Keith!" Matt calls, not caring about waking people up. For God's sake, let them see their love. It's  _magical_. "Hey- Keith!"

Keith walks faster, probably to avoid him and what he thinks is a rejection, when it really, really,  _really is not_. 

Matt catches up to him quickly, be it the years Matt spent running, or the mild concussion slowing Keith down, he doesn't know, but he doesn't care. Whatever it is that gets him to Keith, he is going to repay it. "Keith," he gasps, lungs burning from the run because,  _wow,_ Keith got far. He grabs Keith bicep, resting the other on the wall while he pants. "W-wait."

Keith stills, not facing Matt, but staying in the spot. Matt counts it as a win. " _What._ "

"I- yeah, okay, turn around," Matt can't do this until Keith turns the fuck around-

Keith does so, visibly reluctant, his arms over his chest, again, ice pack no where in sight, eyebrows drawn together.

With a grin, he places his palm on the small of Keith's back, earning a quiet gasp, and pulls Keith close.

Keith sighs into the kiss, cupping Matt's face with his hands. Matt brings a hand up to the back of Keith's neck, trying to get him closer,  _closer, closer-_

Clapping startles them both, separating their mouths, but neither making the move to back away. They're in the same position, but now, Keith's fingers are tangled in Matt's hair, Matt's hand is down Keith's shirt, and his other is tracing his ass. Keith's lips are slightly bruised, just like his probably are, but he could care less- "Lance," Keith gasps, not moving away from Matt, and- oh  _shit_. Keith has a boyfriend.  _Keith has a boyfriend_. Matt looks over Keith's shoulder to see Lance, sitting cross legged at the end of the hallway, a big grin on his face. His chin is in his hands, settled on his knee. "La-"

"Took you long enough," he mutters, laughing. Matt stares, shocked that Lance isn't mad that his boyfriend is kissing another guy-

"I- um, I'm sorry, but _what?_ " Matt asks, gracefully bringing his hand back up to the small of Keith's back. Keith leans his forehead on Matt's chest with a grin.

"You've been pining over each other since the fucking Garrison," Lance drawls out, slow and steady, as if they don't understand. Matt gives him a blank look. Was he really that obvious? Lance huffed. "You were roommates, you were in all of his classes," Lance spares Matt the knowing glance. "I saw you study with him every time I went to the library, you tutored him for no cost, and for fucks sake, I found you guys in the yard once, sleeping on each other, with your coat around Keith."

Matt blinked. When had- oh. Wait. They were studying for one of their exams- he can’t remember which- and Keith had been having nightmares the night before, so they were both really tired, because Matt, being the good friend he was, helped him out with it. Keith had laid with his head on Matt's stomach, curled up because it was chilly and he only had a thin t shirt on. Matt had laid his jacket over his shoulders while they studied, and Keith had fallen asleep soon after that. 

"I forgot that happened," Keith muttered, coming to the same conclusion as him.

"Dumbass," Lance muttered, a teasing smile on his face.

"Wait- wait. S-so," Matt interrupted, bringing up a hand. "You're not mad?" he asked Lance, who raised an eyebrow.

"Me? Why would I be mad?" Lance clasped his hands in front of him. "Shortstack finally got a boyfriend, soo..."

Matt's systems have failed. Waiting for backup systems to start up.

"I'm an inch shorter than you!" Keith hissed, raising his head from Matt's chest, and glaring over his shoulder.

Lance shrugged, a smirk on his face. "But you're several inches shorter than Matt."

A blush rose to his cheeks as he grumbled under his breath, leaning his head back on Matt's chest.

" _You're not dating?!"_ Matt practically screamed, hand flying up in the air. "I thought you were dating!"

Keith stepped back from Matt, a betrayed look on his face. Lance had a similar look on his face, except his mouth was open in shock.

”Why would you think that?!” Keith asked, at the same time Lance yelled: “I’m straight!”

Keith snorted. “Yeah. You’re as straight as a curly fry.”

Lance huffed, crossing his arms. “You’re no better, Mr. I’m too Gay for Girls.”

”That’s the point of being gay, dumbass!”

”W-“

”Alright!” Matt broke them up, hands in the air for fake surrender. “That’s enough! I just- you guys acted like you were dating.”

”I will have you kn-“

”Get lost,” Keith grumbled with a hint of teasing in his voice, arms snaking around Matt’s waist. 

Lance scoffed, rolling his eyes. He got up, planting his hands on his hips. “At least I’m not so rude,” Though his voice was mean, there was no malice to it. He winked at Matt as he left, humming a song.

They remained in an awkward silence, Matt’s hands absently rubbing Keith’s back. That is, until he grunted and moved Matt’s hand back to his ass. “Can we-?”

”Oh, sweet Jesus,” Matt sighed happily, dragging him to his room. “Hell yes.”

Matt picked him up, hands underneath Keith’s ass, despite his protests, and brought him back to the room.

The door shut.

The rooms are soundproof.

* * *

Keith groaned, waking Matt from his sleep.

They had fallen asleep with Matt spooning Keith, his arm as a pillow, after... _stuff_. Matt had taken off his shirt, because no way was he sleeping in a skin tight shirt, causing Keith to blush fiercely and hide his face in Matt’s chest.

Matt has a feeling Keith is going to use his chest as a ‘hide spot’ now.

Matt’s arm is a little numb from having a head on it all night, his circulation being cut off, but the groaning is a little more concerning.

When he opens his eyes, Keith is tucked into a small ball, hands holding his head, his eyes squeezed shut.

”Hey,” he stifled a yawn with his fist. “You okay?”

Keith grunts, turning onto his back. He opens his eyes halfway, glazed over with- “‘m fine.”

The ice pack. “Where’s the ice pack?”

Keith’s brows furrow in thought. “I... um. I don’t remember.”

”That- okay, that’s fine. Listen, I’m gonna go get Coran, okay?” Keith nods shakily, eyelids sliding closed. “Stay here. I’ll be back in a few minutes,” he smiled at Keith as he got up, heart skipping a beat when he received a small smile in return, followed by Keith rolling onto his side.

He makes his footsteps light as he opens the door and gets out, because ice packs, from what he’s learned, doesn’t actually help with concussions- it might win Alteans, but not with Humans- and Keith needs some painkillers.

Once the door shuts, he’s sprinting down the hall as fast as he can, narrowly dodging the four mice sitting in a circle playing... poker?

He isn’t able to dodge Rover 2.0, and ends up tripping over it, falling chin first into the floor.

With a grunt, he rolls onto his back, throwing the robot a dirty look-

Loud alarms pierce through his thoughts, startling him to his feet. 

“Paladins!” Allura’s voice calls through the communication system. “Get to your Lions! We’re being attacked!”

Matt’s eyes widen. If they’re being attacked, and if Keith can hear that- Keith will try to fly his Lion.

He turns around, pills forgotten, with a new priority in mind-

Something stings in the back of his neck, and the world goes black.

~~

When the alarm goes off, Keith’s head explodes. He screams in pain, unable to contain it, clamping his hands over his ears. He knows he needs to help, but he also knows that he’ll be a liability like this. He doesn’t want to screw his team over.

He’ll listen to Matt, just this once.

The alarms, unlike his screams, are getting louder and more frequent. It’s accompanied by Allura’s voice, but he can’t make heads or tails of what she’s saying. 

Keith hopes Matt told her he can’t fight right now.

Soon enough, his screams turn into helpless whimpers, which fades into pathetic sobbing, mixed with tears. All he can do is curl into a tighter ball and hope it stops soon.

And it does.

He sighs in relief, sagging against the mattress. He doesn’t bring his hands away from his ears- not yet, and the nausea has yet to disappear, but it’s fine. He’s fine. Mostly.

It feels like it’s been hours when the door opens, but in reality, it’s only been at least ten minutes. He doesn’t change his fetal position, no matter how pathetic it is. He’s afraid he’ll throw up if he does.

”Matt?” he croaks, voice small, as he opens his eyes to slits. His head is pounding, and his stomach is cramping badly- he knows that’s not a good sign. The concussion must have gotten worse, somehow. It didn’t feel like that yesterday. 

The only answer he receives is footsteps, sending a shiver down Keith’s spine. Those are not what Matt’s footsteps sound like- those are way too heavy to be Matt’s- “Keith? What are you doing in here?” 

He relaxes at the voice- it’s Shiro, and even though he’d been acting weird the past few weeks, it’s still Shiro. “I slept here last night,” Keith offers quietly, bringing his hands away from his ears. His head has gotten a little better, along with the nausea- maybe he can sit up now?

He rolls onto his back slowly, pushing himself onto his elbows. He can’t exactly see Shiro- the lights are off, and Keith’s eyes still have to adjust to the new darkness-

He feels it before he sees it.

The white hot burning pain in his abdomen slowly spreads upwards, as if it’s cutting into him. He nearly vomits right there, but he can’t- he’s trying to but he can’t- 

The violet glow of Shiro’s arm scared him before, he knows that, but now- now that it’s inside of him- he’s terrified.

He looks at Shiro with wide eyes, voice unable to escape his throat, as the hand stops right below his shoulder. Blood drips freely from the wound, which is weird- Shouldn’t the heat from the hand cauterize it?

Shiro- his brother- is grinning smugly, like this is just one of their typical nights, playing Space-Monopoly, and he’s just won the free parking-

Keith gasps sharply as the heat is gone, but the pain stays, falling back onto the bed. He brings his arms up to his stomach, wrapping them around the long, deep cut. He’s scared to look- He thinks he’ll go into shock if he looks-

“So,” Shiro sits on the bed beside him, mattress dipping with his weight. Blood bubbles in his throat as he weakly kicks at Shiro. It’s a futile attempt, but it’s better than laying there helplessly. “How are you?”

Keith responds by huffing out a pained whimper, squeezing his eyes shut. He’s pathetic.

“Bad? In pain?” This isn’t Shiro- it can’t be- “Which is it?”

Keith doesn’t answer- doesn’t have the energy to answer- 

"Here," Shiro's eyes are twinkling with glee. "I'll help you," he digs his flesh fingers into the cut and pulls, earning a scream from Keith's blood-filled throat. "Great! You're in pain."

He can feel hot tears pouring down his cheeks, but everything else... it feels numb. Keith thought, when he would die, that he wouldn't be able to feel the pain anymore, but... the pain is all... he can feel...

He hears Shiro sigh deeply, then feels a sharp sting on his cheek.

He doesn't remember closing his eyes, but they open abruptly, fresh tears making their way down his face. He doesn't really feel it when he's put into handcuffs (It's not like he can fight back), and thrown over Shiro's shoulder. He does feel it when Shiro's muscular shoulder digs into Keith's wound. He tries to push himself off, to relieve the pressure on his cut, but Shiro doesn't let him, and he doesn't have the energy. Maybe he could just... close his eyes... for a few seconds... to regain... some en...

~~

When Matt comes to, he hears yelling.

Lots of it.

"Put him down!" and "Lance, shut up!" are a few of the most often phrases.

He sluggishly blinks his eyes open, raising his head. He tries to move his arms, only to find out that he can't, and that they're restrained behind his back. He growls, pulling his arms in different directions. He turns his head to the side, finding his friends all in similar positions- all except for Keith, Lance, and Shiro.

Where are they?

Someone laughs in front of him, weakly. Matt turns his head back, face drawn into a scowl as he sees what's going on. "They... they're jus' too weak t'a fight m'," Lance's arms are held behind his back, cuffs around his wrists, by a purple alien with a sword at it's hip. It's eyes glow blue, not yellow, so it's safe to say they aren't Galra. If you ignore the skin and eye colours, and their  _height, sweet Jesus,_ you could mistake them for humans. They tower over Lance by about four feet, maybe five, and he can see the muscles practically ripping through their shirts. There's another one in front of him, holding Lance up by his collar. It's fists are covered in blood, just like Lance's armour. There's a small trail of blood dripping down Lance's chin, from his nose and mouth, and a stab wound in his upper bicep. His eyes are half lidded and dull, nothing like the bright, ocean blue Matt is used to. A punch lands on Lance's face, and Matt is screaming alongside his friends.

How could this have happened?

They're too smart and strong to get captured like this. They wouldn't have let this happen-

He looks around again.

Where's Shiro?

_Where's Keith?_

"Oh, has the little Blue Paladin lost his will to stay awake?" His head snaps up at the familiar voice. Shiro is in front of Lance now, instead of the alien from before, chin in his glowing, Galra hand. His eyes- his eyes are fucking gold-

His breath hitches when he sees Keith.

The alien must've been blocking him, or something, because he can see Keith perfectly fine now. He's being held up by a blue alien, a sword against his throat. His hands are behind his back, presumably cuffed like everyone else, limp against the alien's chest. His head is drooping against the knife, a visible line of blood dripping down his neck- and the rest of him- Oh  _God_ -

There's a long cut, bleeding heavily, on his torso, starting from his left hip and ending at his right shoulder. The skin around it is red and angry, like it's been poked multiple times. He's covered in blood from his stomach and down, and there's a small pool forming beneath him. His eyes are open into slits, hazed over in pain, and his cheeks have tear tracks on them.

"Shiro," he calls out, loud enough for him to hear. Shiro grins as he turns to face Matt, dropping Lance's chin. "Shiro-"

"Hello, beautiful," Shiro says playfully, kneeling in front of Matt. "Already done with your nap?"

Matt growls at him, because no, this  _cannot be the Shiro he knew-_

"Who the fuck are you?" Matt snarls, pulling at his restraints again.

Shiro-not Shiro- shrugs. "Not your Shiro," he smiles, stands and kicks Matt in his stomach. Matt clenches his teeth, gasping for air as he bends over, curling protectively around his stomach. He hears Pidge screaming again, but all he can focus on is Keith, clutching to life with the tips of his fingers, in an alien's grip, with a sword digging into his flesh- 

Shiro seems to notice that he's staring. "Bring him over," Shiro grins, again, motioning for the one holding Keith to come to him. He does so, and now that he's close, Matt can see that Keith is being held above the ground.

"What did you  _do-_ "

"Drop him."

The alien obeys, removing the sword before dropping him into a heap by Matt's knees. Matt's eyes widen as Keith's head lolls to the side, eyes still open, blinking slowly. There's a shallow cut on his throat, blood already drying, and a small trail of blood escaping his lips.

"You're wondering how  _your_ team was captured," Shiro states, turning his back to Matt. Matt's struggles become stronger- he needs to help Keith- He looks to Pidge with desperation in his eyes, tears stinging them. Pidge has a few tears trailing down her cheeks as well, but her face is set with determination. She mouths 'Coran', and continues to look forward, a hard look in her eyes. Coran? "Correct?"

He looks around quickly, trying to spot the ginger haired man-

Coran.

Where was Coran?

Everyone- Pidge, Hunk, Allura, Lance, Shiro, Keith and himself- but the mice. Coran. Where were they?

He forced down a grin and scowled at Shiro's back. Shiro continues on without an answer. "Well, when you left to get those pills for Keith, the... space pirates, as Lance so helpfully supplied earlier, boarded our ship after I opened the hangar doors. They used a stun gun on you, and I visited Keith. Did that to him," he gestured to the cut on Keith's torso. "and took him hostage."

Matt's mouth broke into a snarl.

"So, with Keith in my possession-"

" _M...att..._ " Keith's voice was barely audible. Matt, two inches above his face, could hardly hear it. Shiro continued to ramble while Matt ignored him in favour of Keith. " _It...it hur...ts..."_

"I know, baby, I know," Matt whispered back, gently nudging him with his knee, because he couldn't get these fucking cuffs off- "It's gonna be okay. I promise, darling, it'll all be okay, we'll heal you, I  _promise_ -"

"Don't make promises you can't keep," Shiro interrupts him, hands behind his back. "Kill him."

A snap fills the small room, and Matt is jumping to his feet, reading himself into a fighting stance. He places one foot on either side of Keith, staff materialising in his hands- Yes, his weapon is that cool. "I'll kill you," he hisses.

The fight is all a blur, really- Matt remembers Coran bursting into the room, along with the mice, weapons and bayards in his hands, and then Pidge, Hunk and Allura were joining the fight. He remembers Coran running Keith out of the room, while the mice drag Lance, somehow, and Shiro locked in combat with Allura.

Then it's over.

Matt collapses to his knees, hugging himself, squeezing his eyes shut and clenching his teeth. He will  _not_  cry.

_He will not cry._

~~

He did cry.

Hours later, when Keith came out of the pod.

Lance came out of the pod hours before, and had ended up catching him, then there were hugs, and Matt left.

Keith knew where to find him.

A knock came at his door, followed by a small, muffled voice. "Matt?"

He doesn't answer. He continues to lean against the wall, curled into a fetal position.

He hears the door open and Keith's footsteps, slower than usual. The mattress dips beside him- he doesn't look up.

"Matt, are you okay?" Keith asks, and- he sounds fine, perfectly and completely fine- Matt sobs, throwing himself at Keith. Keith stiffens beneath him, arms hovering at his sides, while Matt openly cries into his shoulder.

"Y-you fucking bastard," Matt mutters, looking up from his shoulder. Keith's eyes are wet, but he hasn't shed tears. He doesn't expect Keith to. "I thought you were going to die."

"I'm s-sorry?"

"Fuck you," he hisses, leaning down to kiss him. Keith melts into it, relaxing beneath Matt. "Don't ever fucking do that again, babe."

"Pet names?" Keith grins, though it's shaky.

Matt hums. "We're gonna have sex so I can stop being mad, got it?"

Keith nods happily.

What did Matt do to deserve him?

**Author's Note:**

> ...  
>  hehe.  
> honestly, at some points, it felt like i was writing lance, not keith. theyRE SUCH MEMES


End file.
